


Closet || Ckonny_Nickole » vonlane

by vonlane



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, NaruSasu - Freeform, ckonny_nickole, please protecc him, sasuke is a baby, vonlane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 01:37:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18729070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vonlane/pseuds/vonlane
Summary: "Tic. Toc. The clock on the outside was always so noisy... like you."For someone who lives locked in his closet, it's something new and somewhat annoying.Or perhaps, the total opposite.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ckonny_Nickole](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ckonny_Nickole/gifts).



"Tic. Toc. The clock on the outside was always so noisy... like you."  
For someone who lives locked in his closet, it's something new and somewhat annoying.  
Or perhaps, the total opposite.

-☀-

A Naruto fanfiction: NaruSasu  
I have permission from the author to translate and post this.  
Original Story by @Ckonny_Nickole || find it at: https://www.wattpad.com/story/89514215-closet  
Or, on fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12222087/1/Closet

Ckonny_Nickole's account: https://www.wattpad.com/user/Ckonny_Nickole  
And, on fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2579821/Ckonny-Nickole


	2. OI

_**Closet.** _

_"Tic,_ _toc_ _. The clock outside is always so noisy... like you."_

_._

_._

_._

_Years. I've been locked up like this for years. Alone._

_I started as a kid under the excuse that my parent's hurtful shouting towards each other scared me. And now, after so much, despite those screams having been extinguished, I remain here._

_Going out for brief moments a day is so frustrating, almost torture. If only the bathroom and the kitchen weren't so far away, it'd all be better._

"Sasuke, the door is open again. Are you okay?"

_I nod in response, conscious of the fact that Kushina can't see me, but I expect her to understand me without the need to._

"Sasuke,"  _She repeats,_ "you know I can't understand you if—"

_I loudly lower the zipper of one of the jacket's pockets to interrupt her._

"I understand," _I hear her say. The resigned sigh that comes after makes me hug my knees even more as I lean my back heavily against the wooden door to my hiding place._ "I brought lunch,"  _She says after a while._ "Because certainly you didn't go out to buy anything, 'ttebane."

_I know she really doesn't expect a response from my part so I stay quiet, hoping she'd leave soon— something that happened a few anxious minutes later._

_But the sound of steps walking away is so calming, you know?_

_I open the wide closet door and come out of it little by little, all the while looking around for some invisible being observing me, possibly hidden somewhere without me noticing._

_Nothing._

_I can eat in peace and then go back to the closet a few minutes later, adopting the same position I had since a few hours ago._

_Surprise?_

_Why do you feel that?_

_I don't consider the fact that someone lives in their closet— alone and silent like their own hiding place— to be something strange._

_It's dark, I admit that. But I like it._

_I don't see nor hear anything I don't want to know, like my mother being hit by my father, for example. No, I haven't seen anything like that since a long time ago._

_It's just me, the smell of mothballs given off by some old coat that once belonged to a member of my family, and the feel of different materials with which the garments hanging in this space are made off. Nothing more._

_I hope that the neighbour comes back soon looking for the tray she left, that way I can think in peace and stop being so expectant. It's not that I hate her, or that she bothers me. If not for her, I certainly wouldn't be alive since she's the only one who worried about me after my parents finished destroying each other._

_Kushina had always been my mother's best friend, and she still is even though my mother no longer exists in this world._

_Ah, I like this. How everything is dark and silent, although..._

_It's interesting how everything changes when I come out through the door in which I lean my back on. Outside, in what was once the bedroom I used often, everything is blindingly bright and noisy. Sometimes, when I get bored, I feel the need to go out and spend some time there, without going out of the house, just in it's corners for a few minutes to have more things to remember when I go back to locking myself in again. Could it be that I'm developing some type of fear of forgetting how the outside world was? Either way, does that matter?_

_Tic,_ _toc_ _. I'm sure that the only thing I'll never forget, no matter how the years pass, is the shape and sound of the clock. The one that's on the front wall._

_It could sound weird, but, for some reason, I know that object is the only thing that keeps me sane and reminds me that I am alive amidst this darkness._

_The day I no longer hear those hands move and clashing against those numbers that mark the hour, I'll know then that I no longer exist, and that the darkness in which I hide is in reality, the reflection of stormy life._

_._

_._

_._

_Kushina hasn't come back for a while. I don't exactly know the days, I'm only conscious that when I ate that time, the window let the sun in and since an hour ago, when I went out again— but this time to the bathroom— the sun had already been gone._

_My stomach says it's been a long time._

_Had something happened to her? I really hope not. I miss her visits._

_The good thing is that I won't have to worry about the fact that someone else is in the house._

_Wait a moment, is that the door? I halt my thoughts and listen_ _closely._

_Steps, those are steps that I hear approaching and they're lurking all over the house as if they're lost._

_That is not Kushina. Every time she visits, she only follows one direct path and if she comes to clean, she tells me in advance. I hold my breath. Is it a thief?_

"Where..."  _I hear someone say. A man; it's been a long while since I've heard another voice that is not my neighbour's or mine. It's weird and it gives me goosebumps._  "Where is he supposed to be...OH!"

_I open my eyes in surprise and blink with almost the same astonishment as that voice comes near and now I know he's in the same room as I._

"Hey,"  _He says and I recognize doubt in the tone of his voice. I curl myself tighter and avoid making noise as to not reveal that I'm here_. "Is there really someone here? Hello~?"

_I sense how he approaches the closet, me. I furrow my eyebrows in discomfort upon feeling a tapping on the wooden door as that scandalous voice spoke with doubt._

"Hey, is there anyone here? God, this is crazy, I don't know why I even paid attention to..."

"NO!"

_I cover my mouth instantly, reprimanding myself for my slip up. I shouted... it had been a long time since I've done that and it was all this idiot's fault. I had barely felt him opening the door and I couldn't have helped it._

"EH?!"  _I hear his surprise and I hurry to grab a hold of the other side of the door as to avoid him from opening it and thus close it again._

_I don't recall ever feeling my heart beating this way since years ago._

"Lies, lies, it must be a lie!"  _What the hell is a lie?_  "There really is someone in the closet?! Wow, hey! Then, you're Sasuke?"

_My name being said by that loud voice makes me more nervous than before, so I cannot help but hold on to the door even more as to keep this strange being from entering._

"Hey, answer me! I know you're there, teme! I'm going to go in if you don't answer me!"

 _I frown in disgust and I give him what he wants just so he'll leave me in peace._  "What?"

_Silence. The strength he exercised against my force vanished as I believed his attempt to open the door from the other side halted. I don't like this, why is there a stranger in my house? What's he doing now and why isn't he leaving?"_

"Then, you are Sasuke?"  _I hear him as after a few seconds._

"I am," _I confirm under my breath. "_ now leave."

_I feel a new pressure over the wooden door, almost as if he were to be leaning his back against it._

"You really don't come out of there?"

_I don't even want to think of the fact that that this guy seemingly knew too much about me. No, damn it, I only want him to leave. He's  making me nervous._

_I don't respond and the pressure on the other side of the wood increases._

"Sorry, I know it's none of my business 'ttebayo, but, my mom asked me to give you a message and... Agh! Seriously! Come out of there, it's frustrating talking to a wall! Hey!"

_Knock all you want on the door but I won't let you enter, nor will I come out._

"Are you even listening to me?!"  _I roll my eyes and lower the zipper on the jacket I tend to respond to Kushina with._ "Is that a yes? Shit, Sasuke, whoever you are, talk to me 'ttebayo. It's urgent!"

_He's an unbearable idiot._

"Who's your mother?" _I asked, feigning to be intrigued as I recall his previous words._

"So you're not going to come out, eh... teme."  _He moodily grumbles._ "Kushina, the neighbor."  _He finally answers and I open my mouth in surprise._

"Oh..." _I say. I didn't know she had a son. Although, in reality, I know nothing about the neighbours in this building._

"She's sick and she couldn't come so from now on, I'll be the one to come visit you until she gets better."  _That thing in his voice... is it resignation?_ "I'm Naruto, how old are you? I thought you were a kid from the way my mom told me about this weird behaviour of yours, living in the closet, but your voice isn't that of—"

"Twenty."

"What? I have my ear pressed on this damned door and I still can't hear you, damn it. Speak louder!"

"Twenty!"  _I repeat much louder and then sigh._ "I'm twenty years old, thanks for telling me. Can you leave now?"

_What I least want at this moment is a new, unknown person unnecessarily judging me._

"You're twenty years old and you lock yourself in a closet like a little kid?"  _And there it is. Judging me just like I said he would._

"Does it matter to you? Be gone, usuratonkachi."

"Hey, relax, I'm not—"

 _It bothers me, it bothers me._ "Be gone! You don't know anything about me and I don't care to know anything about you! Leave, Naruto, get lost!"

_The pressure on the door disappears a few seconds later. I only hear his sigh and how he backs off a bit, then how he hesitates— walking a few steps back to me as if he wanted to add something. I don't want to hear it, Naruto._

_Just leave already._

"Sasuke..."

_Leave me alone._

"...I'm sorry..."

_I don't care. Just leave._

"I'll be back tomorrow."

_For what? I wanted to ask but I didn't because I want you to leave. I don't want to make this inconvenient visit any longer._

_._

_._

_._

_What's it like to be happy? I've forgotten it like most of the existing emotions._

_Is happiness a smile? Wanting to be close to someone? I don't know, but today, I can't stop thinking about it ever since I dreamt for the first time in years._

_It's uncomfortable. I dreamt there were many colors around me and a bunch of different sounds, not just the hands of the clock._

_Someone spoke out to me and said: "Sasuke, do you like this? Or this?" while showing me a series of things whose names I've forgotten. What I can't forget is that voice, identical to the guy's voice from yesterday._

_It felt nice. It's probably because it's been years since I've had a conversation with anyone that caused my mind to imagine something more than just darkness and sounds of fabrics rubbing against my skin._

_Is the outside as beautiful as it was in my dream?_

_No, surely it's just an illusion. Outside is just as dark and terrible, what's more, they ordered me to never get out of here._

_They ordered me to have never seen anything._

_Years would pass and I, obediently against my own wishes, would do it._

_What time is it? I'm starving. Kushina won't come. How do you turn on the stove? What was the last thing I cooked on it? I caress a skin jacket while I think and prepare myself mentally to get out, something that tends to take me hours._

_Oh, the door opens and some steps approach me. Who is it? I can't help but tense up and grab the closet door so that nobody could open it and find me._

"Sasuke,"  _That loud voice is back. Why does my stomach turn upon hearing it? "I brought ramen, 'ttebayo." He announces happily while I hear the sound of a metallic tray— the one Kushina always brings— being placed on the floor._ "I don't know what things you like, so I brought this. And I also brought some for me so we can eat together!"

_My hand, which once grabbed at the door from the inside, wavers and falls lazily against the wood. I blink._

"Are you there, Sasuke?"

_I swallow saliva and I hurry to give the door a little knock in response when I feel something lay back on it._

"You won't eat?" _I didn't respond._ "Do you want me to put the tray inside the closet?"

"I'll eat when you leave."

_You sigh as if asking for patience. I don't care about being rude with this person. Kushina should've told him that I don't like talking to anyone._

"Come on, Sasuke,"  _He then says. "_ I want us to get along, 'ttebayo. Eat with me, it's delicious!"

_I could tell it's delicious from the odor that's seeping in through the openings in the door and my stomach thinks the same because it embarrassingly lets out a sound._

"You're hungry, teme. Come out to eat, stop being difficult."

"The one who's being difficult is you. Leave, I don't want to talk to anyone, stupid."  _The wood creaks as a great pressure is applied over it._ "What...?"

"I leaned my back against it, don't worry."  _He responds calmly, perhaps knowing how anxious I was._ "I want to get along with you, Sasuke-teme. I'm also twenty, 'ttebayo, Let's be friends, yes?"

_Friends? Why would I want to be that?_

_He begins talking before I could respond with anything. He's very insistent._

_But in a way, hearing my name being spoken by a new different voice makes me feel strangely warm._

"I have many things to ask you but I'm much more concerned about you eating. So what do we do?"  _I noticed you won't leave easily, idiot._

_I sigh loudly so you could note my frustration._

"Bring the tray close to the door."  _I order with my voice a bit shaky._

"Eh? Done!"  _He tells me, following after the sound of the tray sliding over until stopping in front of where I am._

"Close your eyes."

"Eh? Why?"

"Close your eyes." _I repeat._

"H-hey... believe me, this is more uncomfortable for me than it is for you. How do I know you're not really some serial killer or something that's hiding in the closet?"

_That's funny. Without wanting to, I  laugh softly. I cover my mouth, surprised, shutting myself up._

"ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME?! BASTARD!"

_My cheeks warm up. Am I blushing? What the hell?_

"Did you close your eyes?"  _I insist, leaving the topic aside._

"Yeah, yeah, teme."  _You huff._

_My chest feels the pressure of my heart's accelerated beating. I swallow with difficulty and slowly, I open the closet door a bit and just as slowly, I reach my hand out with my gaze fixed on the tray in front of me._

_It's big, damn it. I'll have to reach my other hand out if I want to pull it in._

"If you open your eyes, I'll kill you." _I warn, letting half my body out to grab a hold of the tray. You make a funny sound in response._

_I don't know why. I shouldn't have done it. Maybe it's because I wanted to check if you weren't looking, but I turned my face towards you and saw you. Sitting there, leaning back against the door just like you said you were, with a bowl of steamy ramen between your hands and shaky eyelids as if you were holding in the urge of wanting to open them. Or were you really scared of what I could do to you?_

"Done?"  _You ask, taking me out of my daze. Quickly, I go back in the closet and close the door, telling you that everything was okay now. "_ You're going to eat inside? Isn't it uncomfortable? It must be dark and full of spiders. Ugh..."

"Hmm..."

_I have more important things to think about than spiders. Like the fact of why your hair is so golden and your clothes that color of orange— it's so bright like everything that surrounds you. Or is it you that shines?_

"You're very quiet. I don't like the silence at all."  _You argue._ "Wouldn't you like more movement or something, 'ttebayo? What do you do for entertainment in there?"

"Nothing."

"You just stay in silence?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

_I don't know. I never really put myself to think about it, I just know that I've been doing it for so long that the sole idea of hearing anything more that's not the loud clock outside bothers me. Although now, with Naruto here, it doesn't seem to bother me much._

_I slurp the ramen noodles; I had forgotten their flavor. I close my eyes as I chew and hear how you're also eating on the other side of the door, waiting for an answer that I'll never give you. You hum something under your breath and I lose myself in that rhythm as I eat._

_Why do I feel so at peace all of a sudden?_

_._

_._

_._

_Tic,_ _toc_ _. The clock outside is always so noisy... like you._

_Ever since two days ago, when we had 'lunch' together, you keep coming around the same hour to eat together, each time bringing more food saying that you're thinking of staying a bit longer because you don't like thinking that I spend all day doing nothing._

_It's not like that, Naruto. Since the first day, I entertain myself thinking on the color of your hair, how loud your voice is, and how exasperating your personality is._

_Out of nowhere, the days stopped feeling like eternities, my counted visits to the bathroom suddenly took longer because outside, where I could see different colors and things— not only depending on my sense of smell and touch— seemed a lot more interesting._

_But not less disturbing._

"This is too sweet,"  _I say upon tasting the tart that I have no idea what it is since I can't see anything in the habitual darkness of the closet. I don't like it._

"What? Lies, it's good, Sasuke. You're the bitter one."  _Where does that come from?_

"Hmph."

"So you don't like sweet things. Ugh, you're so complicated."

_Complicated, I don't consider myself as someone complicated._

"Ne, Sasuke, listen," _You say with emotion and thus you grab my attention immediately._

_What is it that you have such urge to show me? I chew on the highly sweetened treat as I wait, making sure that your weight over the door doesn't disappear. It calms me to know that you don't move from there and you don't make the intent to enter or see me like you would before._

_A strange sound comes to my ears while you ask:_

"Do you know what it is?"

"A guitar?"  _I reply doubtingly. It's true that I've spent the majority of my life locked in but even so, there are things that I remember as a kid. It's impossible to forget the instrument that my brother used to play before leaving to a foreign land._

"Yes!" _You confirm before playing a calm, soft, almost sad melody._

_Music. I almost couldn't remember what music was. The vibrations that come from the guitar should bother me, but truth is, I don't care. I close my eyes and lean on the wood, hearing you play attentively._

"You like it?"  _You gently ask. Your voice mixing with the melody you play._

"It's weird..."  _I reply without hesitating, lost in the tranquility the song causes me. It feels as if you're trying to tell me something._

"It's probably because you're not used to hearing lots of things. The windows are always closed, and you spend all day in the closet. I've been here for three days and still I can't see you, 'ttebayo..."

"Why do you want to see me"?"

"I don't know..."  _What kind of answer is that?_ "I just feel the need to help you."

"I don't need any help."

_The song, the notes, the bright and pastel colors that visualize in my head change to much colder tones like your melody. You're trying to tell me something, right? Why do I feel like all of a sudden my senses are lost and my eyes itch? What is this?_

"I think I'm the one that needs it..."  _I hear you say._

_And I don't understand it. I don't understand the water that falls from my eyes and why it burns my face._

"This melody is as sad as you. Sasuke."

_I know, I get it._

"Why do you hide from the world? What are you hiding?"

_Are you leaving? Are you saying goodbye? If not that, then why those questions? Did Kushina perhaps get better so you no longer have to come back? I don't understand why someone would want to know more about a weird person they've barely just met._

_Just like how I don't understand why I'm crying right now for no reason._

"Do you have some deformity or something like that?"  _You ask through a laugh as I feel your fingers strum the strings of the guitar. But your voice is off._

"So what if?"  _I dare ask you while your guitar continues singing to my sadness._

_You grow quiet and I sob, suddenly realizing that we're both so far and so close. Just like everything in life._

_My parents, my whole life wasted by fear._

_My only entertainment— a clock on the wall and some coats hanging in this closet that doesn't let me see anything._

_It's so sad._

"It wouldn't matter, Sasuke."  _You then respond._ "It wouldn't matter because you'd still be you..."

_._

_._

_._

_I don't like this song, it's too happy._

_Naruto took up the habit of leaving the radio on every time he left. The volume is low because I asked him to leave it like that and I can barely manage to distinguish the lyrics of the song as it sounds like a murmur._

_I entertain myself. My days are no longer dark._

_Sometimes I hum to the songs of the radio while I touch the coats in the closet, discovering that there are way more than I always thought there'd be._

_Naruto hasn't come by throughout the entire day. Did something happen? I miss him and it makes me restless to not hear anything from him. Our strange relationship turned more strange ever since he asked me what I was hiding._

_I always notice how you stay silent for a few seconds between answers, as if you were asking yourself if what you wanted to tell me was okay or not. Did you perhaps feel guilty about making me feel bad upon reminding me that I had a condition that isolated me from everything? Idiot._

_It was a lie._

_If you return, I'll tell you the truth, but appear._

_The sound of the clock is no longer interesting now that you're here, Naruto._

_The hours pass between song and song; I don't even have the urge to pass by the bathroom for no reason. Is this how it is? The day ends and you're not here? Should I go out to look for you? I feel like it, I swear I do, but my body paralyzes at the thought of going out of my house, of the closet._

_What is that? The door? It's a very faint sound I'm able to distinguish from far away. Is it you?_

"Sasuke..."

_It is. what's wrong with your voice?_

"Sasuke... forgive me. I... my mom..."

"What happened?"

_This is wrong. This doesn't appear to be the Naruto I know. You always sound happy to me, why isn't it like that now?_

"She..." _I feel how you lean on the usual spot._ "she almost died. All of a sudden she had an attack and we didn't know anything throughout he entire day, the doctor didn't want to tell us anything but..." _I hear your voice break and it hurts me. Seconds pass and you continue. "_ She's alright, Sasuke. That's what matters."

_'She's okay.' Who was it that once told me that in my life? I cover my mouth and avoid saying anything. His mother is alright, that's good._

_His concern for her is so... agonizing._

_He was worried. And you, Sasuke? How did you feel that one time?_

"Sasuke..." _You say and I hear your voice as if it were someone else's._ "Are you okay?"

"Do you love your mother a lot?"  _I asked in a murmur._

"Of course I do, 'ttebayo! what kind of question is that?"

_Knot. My throat is in a knot._

_Of course a son would love his parents..._

_I stagger, feeling my breathing agitated as a perturbing scene plays out in my head._

_My mother, she was prideful and my father loved to always have control over her._

_That's what provoked them to hurt each other._

"Sasuke..."

"I loved her..."  _I said, more to myself than to the other person._ "You're so worried and all I can do is stay here..."

"What's wrong?"  _I feel like you're softly hitting the door, but I don't care._

"He said that I didn't see anything..."  _The most painful memory and the reason as to why I'm in this place passes through my mind, making me feel dizzy. The urge to vomit makes itself present and the panic I used to get for whatever movement near this closet comes back in a terrifying way._ "He told me that I couldn't get out of here... that I should never do it..." _It's true, they ordered me to stay here and that's why I do it._

_They ordered me to hide and here I am after many years._

_The closet door opens and my head stays blank, yet I am still conscious._

_The sound of the radio disappears._

_Some arms surround me in the middle of this darkness as a soft, worried voice asks me:_

"Who told you that? Is that why you're here? Sasuke... tell me..."

_Naruto..._

_How is it that you entered without me noticing?_

_I grab on to you, enjoying this closeness that I haven't had in years and which I've reunited with. You're in my secret place, who cares?_

_Nobody else has more right to share it with me than you._

_At least, that's what I feel at this moment._

"My father... when I was a kid,"  _I began, leaning my forehead shyly in what I thought to be his shoulder._ "He tended to argue with my mother, so... I used to hide here so I wouldn't hear them... One day, I came out."  _I could never forget that day. If I had stopped dreaming of him, it's because I couldn't be any more dead inside. "_ The only time I got out... was when my father strangled my mother... and he ordered me to go back where I always hid and to stay quiet..."

"Shit... Sasuke. Where is he?!"  _You grab me by the shoulders and shake me. You can't see me from the darkness in here, but I feel your eyes fixed on me._

"He..." _My voice fades and it seems as if I could faint at any moment._ "He killed himself... in my room while I was here..."

_Suddenly it seemed as if every sense in me cost me._

_As if those arms that now enveloped me with strength were waiting to comfort me at this moment._

_You caress my back without any fear. I lean into you and feel your heart beat so loud that it scares me._

"Relax... Sasuke, I'm here."  _You say without knowing what else to say to help me._ "Shit, I shouldn't have... I... I shouldn't have ever insisted."

"Naruto..." _I fear to ask, but I should do it. "_ Are you going to leave like them, too?"

"HELL NO!"

_I'd like to think that that's true. I don't want to get out of here._

_For fear that you'd too, leave._

_._

_._

_._

_The day is so bright. My eyes aren't used to so much light._

_I extended my daily visit to the bathroom on purpose. After what happened yesterday— after Naruto left the closet asking for endless apologies— I've felt so terribly uneasy in that space that I couldn't help but to escape from there for a moment._

_What could it be? Perhaps it was the fact that another person shared that space with me, although it was for a few short minutes._

_Even so, I miss that strange warmth that radiated off of Naruto's body. Could I perhaps have another opportunity to feel his embrace again?_

_As a response, quietly, I feel how someone surrounds me from behind and I, in agitation, respond by turning around as to punch whoever was grabbing me— stopping upon recognizing your hair, the color of your skin. But none of that compares to the color of your eyes that radiate so much light quite like your persona._

_Uncomfortable. And the way that you smile so enormously as you open your eyes as surprised as I am is even more uncomfortable._

"It's you..."  _You murmur and hold me tightly. I move around in your arms as to not worry that I'm feeling my heart beating too fast._

"Let go of me, idiot-Naruto!" _I shout in alarm and free myself from his hold so I can once again hide in the closet._

_I hear his footsteps drawing near and I hold on to the door from the other side so he can't enter._

_I feel my face extremely warm, what is this?_

"Sasuke! Sasuke! Let me in 'ttebayo!"

"NO!"

"AGH! LET ME SEE YOU AGAIN!"

"FOR WHAT?!"

_I waited for an indignant, blunt answer; not for you to shut up out of nowhere._

_Why did you shut up, idiot?_

"Agh! I just want to see you! Or let me in!"

_Before I could even answer, you pull the door with so much strength that you end up breaking it and you get in with me in my hiding space— one that is no longer dark because of the light that enters without the door. I frown before your face of absolute shock._

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID, IDIOT!"

"I'll buy you another door!"

"When?! I WANT IT NOW!"

"I WILL, I WILL, BUT... BUT!

_I raised my arm, set on hitting him, but I didn't expect Naruto to take a hold of it and pull me towards him to timidly place his lips with mine._

_Is this real?_

_Why does my dark world and the coats in this closet no longer look so dark all of a sudden?_

_._

_._

_._

_I hate this new door._

_The light enters and illuminates everything inside this closet. They're like bars made out of wood, but the good thing is that it has a lock on the inside._

_Although, in reality, I appreciate that they're like this since I can look outside to my bedroom._

_I don't feel so isolated like before. I'm not saying this is comfortable, because whoever enters can see me, but that means that I, too, can see you._

"Sasukeee," _You complain as I move away from the door and avoid your hands that are able to reach in through the bars in an attempt to touch me._ "Forgive me... I've asked you to forgive me like a thousand times today! Why can't you forgive me, 'ttebayo?!"

_I send you a dismissive look. Who would so easily forgive the person who kissed you and then ran out leaving you alone? No one._

"I won't do it again if that's what worries you but let me... agh! Let me in, damn teme!"

"No."

"WHY?!"

_You lean in close against the door and I can perfectly see your eyes between the 'bars' as you pout. I ignore you on a whim and let fall a huge coat so I could cover myself with it._

_It's too cold._

_I hear how you complain and I observe your fingers poking through the boards wanting to touch me._

_I frown and hit your fingers with my hand._

"PLEASE,"  _You insist._ "Just for a bit, I just want to give you company."

"If I let you in, will you shut up?"

"YES, YES, 'TTEBAYO!"

_I let out a huff and stretch to open the lock, letting you in. I move aside to make space for you and you sit next to me, pulling on the coat as if it were a blanket to cover yourself with while you look at me with a bright smile._

_I blush once again, and my stomach tingles._

"Hey..."  _You say._  "I know it's weird, but..."

"But what."

"Will you ever go out somewhere with me?"

_I lower my head and avoid your face. That's something I doubt I could even do._

"Why would I go out with a dobe like you? The coats are less noisy. I prefer to stay here."

_You huff, and I find it funny._

"Well, if you don't want to go out then, we'll pretend to go out until you're ready!"  _What does that mean?_ "Would a table fit in here, 'ttebayo?"

"A table?" _I turn to you without understanding any of this and you nervously avoid my face._ "For what?"

"T-to eat together..."

"Why are you stuttering?"

"I'm not stuttering!"

"Hmm..."

"But... but think about it: we could eat, and I'll play my guitar and...!"  _Don't continue._

_I like the idea; although I'm not sure what I really like about it._

_Actually, I do know._

"So then, you want to spend time with me in the closet?" _I ask, getting closer to you and noticing how tense you get with my closeness that you even avoid visual contact._ "What's wrong? Do I have a deformity that bothers you?"  _I ask, a bit done with your attitude._

"No! You have none of that!" _You respond in a shout as you turn to me looking as if I've just slapped you._ "It's just... it's just... You're perfect, 'ttebayo! THAT BOTHERS ME!"

_Oh... my mouth opens, and you swallow saliva with just that. Was that some type of declaration or something? I blush and furrow my eyebrows._

"You like me?"

"W-WHAT...?"

"Naruto, do you like me or something like that?"

_Once again you turn away to avoid me and I don't like that. With a shaking hand, I grab your chin to obligate you to look at me._

_Your eyes seem so colorful now. Or is it because I'm not used to seeing so much pain?_

_Life in the closet is so dark and silent, and you're so different. You scare me and come into my life like the day I never take advantage of._

_I slowly inch closer to you and join our lips together, wanting to know if what I felt last time was purely coincidental. But no._

_My world really calms down with just this touch, this closeness. You._

_I move away slowly and you only look at me dumbly._

"If I say yes,"  _You say. I arch an eyebrow confusingly._  "Will you kiss me again?"

"No."

"Agh, teme, don't play with me!"  _You pot and then inch your face towards me._ "I'm inside a closet for you, come on."

"You're the one who wanted to enter. Deal with it." _I pull on a coat to let it fall just over your head._

"FUCKER! I WON'T LEAVE UNTIL YOU TELL ME IF YOU LIKE ME, TOO!"  _You shout out of nowhere and then blush upon realizing what you've said._

"Then I'll never say it." _I respond seriously._

_Maybe it was just to play along but, I don't want Naruto to leave._

_The company of another feels so good; or do I only feel like that with Naruto?_

"You're cruel, 'ttebayo. You'll have to always make a space for me because I'll stay by your side every damn day. And then you'll accompany me to my house and you'll stay there with me forever!"

_I snort and look away as he takes what he wants and while off guard, you kiss me._

_I let him, why back away when I love him?_

_Perhaps now, that everything finally came out of me, I could go out completely once again._

_._

_._

_._

_Tic,_ _toc_ _._

"Very good, little by little,"  _He says as I'm completely shaking._

"I don't want to... not anymore."

"Shh. I'm here, Sasuke."

_It was the biggest step of my life. But I was already out my apartment door._

_The door closes behind me, making me grip the hand that holds on to mine tightly, comforting me and giving me strength._

"I want to go back... Naruto."  _I say in fear, and immediately, I feel how your arm surrounds me from the waist, letting me know that if I faltered, you'd hold me up._

"Come on, Sasuke, just a bit more. There's a closet in my bedroom in case of anything, I swear. It even has more space."  _Aren't we supposedly doing this so that I wouldn't lock myself in the closet again? Idiot, you've always been an idiot. But I understand you, you must be more anxious than I am at this moment._

_It was three minutes, three in which I felt my life leave me and everything shake, but in the end..._

_When Naruto's apartment door opened and Kushina walked out to hug me..._

_I had the urge to go lock myself in the closet._

_But to go back and destroy all of that is no use to me._

_The coats._

_The clock on the wall._

_._

_._

_._

**_Fin_ ** _._


End file.
